August 07, 2009
MP wants higher gear on cycling
Derek Puddicombe
Ottawa Sun
PAGE: 6/NEWS
Local NDP MP Paul Dewar wants the city to get serious about cycling.
Dewar released a report yesterday that is asking the city to make cycling safer and more convenient. The report says the city should have a “more comprehensive and contiguous cycling network, demarcated by different coloured paint or raised lanes, linking all major streets and bridges from the suburbs to the core.”
He also wants the city to spend more money on repairing potholes and sewer grates, as well as making sure all new and newly paved roads include cycling lanes.
Dewar says cycling education is a big part of making the city a safer place to cycle.
For winter cyclists, he’d like the National Capital Commission to plow bike paths.
Dewar is supporting a bill by NDP colleague Nathan Cullen of B.C., which calls for dedicated federal funding to municipalities for cycling.
Innes Coun. Rainer Bloess is an avid cyclist and would also like the city to spend more on cycling, but council cut the city’s cycling budget.
“The budget was cut which doesn’t help us implement the city’s cycling plan,” said Bloess, who just returned from an 800-km cycling trip in Iowa.
